outposts of France, a caricature of French imperialism. In all these countries the proletariat is paying for the war in the form of a lowered standard of living and great unemployment.
But the most important object of the Versailles Peace Treaty is Germany. Disarmed, robbed of every possibility of self-defence, it has been delivered to the mercy of the imperialist powers. The German bourgeoisie attempt to unite her interests, now with the bourgeoisie of England, and now with other friends. By intensified exploitation of the German proletariat, it is attempting to satisfy some of the demands of France and, at the same time, to obtain foreign help to secure its rule over the German proletariat. But even the extensive exploitation of the German proletariat and its subjection to the rôle of a European colony, as a result of the Versailles Peace Treaty, do not make it possible for Germany to pay the reparations. Germany has become the football of England and France. The French attempt to solve the question forcibly by the occupation of the Ruhr. England opposes this move. Only the interference of the greatest economic power of the world, the United States, will make it possible to conciliate the conflicting interests of France, England and Germany.
United States of America.
The United States of America has turned its back on the Versailles Treaty, and refused to ratify it. The United States which has come out of the war as the strongest industrial and political power of the world, to whom every imperialist European power is deeply indebted, shows no desire to stabilise French finances by any large credit to Germany. American capital is turning away from the European chaos, and is attempting to create its own colonial empire in Central and South America and in the Far East, and to secure the exploitation of the home market for its own ruling class by means of a high protective tariff. But while it is not interesting itself in the fate of Europe, it is coming into the conflict with the interest of England and Japan in the Far East. Through its economic power, the United States forced the other imperialist powers to come to the Washington Disarmament Conference. In this way it destroyed one of the most important bases of the Versailles Treaty—the supremacy of England on the seas—and broke up the alignment of power resulting from the Treaty.
Japan and the Colonies.
The youngest imperialist world power, Japan, is keeping away from the European chaos created by the Treaty of Versailles. But her interests are greatly affected by the rise of the United States to a world power. In Washington it was forced by the United States to dissolve its alliance with England, whereby another provision of the Treaty was rendered ineffec-
48
